A gas membrane-separation process is a process of separating acid gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2) from such mixed gas including at least acid gas as (i) synthesis gas synthesized in a large-scale plant that produces, for example, hydrogen and/or urea, (ii) natural gas, and (iii) exhaust gas. The gas membrane-separation process can save energy, and has attracted attention in recent years.
There have been proposed various gas separation membranes and membrane-separation apparatuses for use in the gas membrane-separation process. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a carbon dioxide separation apparatus, and Patent Literature 2 discloses a carbonic acid gas separation membrane.
A known example of an acid gas separation membrane element including a gas separation membrane is a spiral-wound acid gas separation membrane element. A spiral-wound acid gas separation membrane element includes (i) a wound body including a separation membrane, a feed-side channel component, and a permeate-side channel component that are wound in a laminated state around a core tube having a plurality of holes and (ii) a sealing section configured to prevent mixing of mixed gas (feed-side fluid) and permeation gas (permeate-side fluid).
Such a conventional spiral-wound acid gas separation membrane element often employs, as a technique for forming the sealing section, a method in which an adhesive is caused to penetrate into a member constituting the membrane element. For example, Patent Literature 3 reports that a seal is provided to an area where a seal is necessary in a reinforcement member sheet, by causing an adhesive to penetrate the area in a direction from a reinforcement member sheet side to a gas permeable sheet side in a depth direction.